Strategies sought to achieve SDGs

Countries, particularly the BRICS grouping, should urgently implement policies that can act as a catalyst in meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, said South African scholars.

Ronney Ncwadi, a professor in economics and director of the School of Economics, Development and Tourism at Nelson Mandela University in Gqeberha, said the COVID-19 pandemic reversed the gains which had been made by countries in meeting the SDGs.

Commenting on a recent meeting held in South Africa on promoting the SDGs, Ncwadi said the pandemic affected human resources by hitting those with critical skills and reducing incomes.

The UN has come up with 17 Sustainable Development Goals or Global Goals which countries are expected to meet by 2030.

BRICS is better placed to make a positive contribution to the SDGs because of its influence on the international community and economic muscle, Ncwadi said.

"BRICS has a role to play in contributing to the realization of the SDGs," he said. "We should be able to help each other. We have the New Development Bank, which is the financial muscle that ought to address these inequalities, problems and setbacks in terms of growth."

BRICS countries have to improve trade, which will result in economic growth and poverty reduction, and move toward achieving the SDGs, Ncwadi said.

Christopher Isike, professor and director of the Africa Centre for the Study of the United States at the University of Pretoria, said that in the next six years, countries can make a difference in meeting the SDGs. Governments and citizens need a social contract that covers what each party has to deliver to realize the SDGs, Isike said.

"BRICS countries have to come together and agree on a policy on public health … All will have a mandate to institute a public health system," he said. "Public health is the foundation of any economy and well-being of a country. If we have a social contract, the state will invest more in health and education and those soft powers have a multiplier effect on achieving the SDGs."

Amkela Dyantyi, founder of the private sector Small and Medium Enterprises CEO's Group Agency in South Africa, said that if small enterprises are supported with skills and finance, they can assist in job creation and economic growth and contribute to meeting the SDGs.

The writer is a freelancer for China Daily.